it over you. The alternative to this is to seek solace in
someone or something, in which case you go on losing
without realizing the truth about it. Either way, a false
confidence is obtained. If you take it out on people, you
develop an animal type of aggressiveness, a vicious strength
that becomes dependent on violating others for kicks. On the
other hand, if you are inclined to go the solace route, your
benefit is one of illusion rather than power, and, before you
realize it, you will have traded some more of your energies
for it.
       With the help of companions and things such as drugs
and drink, the loser experiences a growing fear of facing life
that drives him back to the tempter/comforter for assurance.
Every time you lean toward ego reassurance, the pain of that
need—as well as the excitement that cures it—prevents your
being aware of the payment you must make. Your friends
attach themselves to you to become a sort of psychic
vampire. Because of their own involvement with you, it is
difficult for them to realize the role you oblige them to play.
       For example, suppose that you are very close to your
mother; you believe her to be an angel from heaven who
loves you very much, yet in some mysterious fashion her love
makes you very fearful of facing life without her. If this is
the case, you can be sure she is living from you, providing
you with larger doses of self-image, a false confidence that all
is well that exists only as long as you remain close to her.
       If you cannot speak up to your "friends" it is because
they have offered themselves to your ego. The false belief
you have in yourself, the license for a wrong way of life has
made them a base for your existence; you have given them
power to give you that "freedom." To hold on to a sense of
certainty about your life style, you are compelled to go on

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